Poker Strategy

Poker is a card game based on a player's skills, knowledge and the ability to apply them in the game. Luck is also a part of poker, however, it does not play a significant role. First of all, poker is an intellectual game of skill and therefore rules and strategy are the most important factors.

In order to become a winning poker player or even a poker pro, one must constantly develop their game, analyze it, learn from their mistakes and employ new poker strategies. It is still possible to win without utilizing any poker strategy, but it would be more of an exception than a rule. Strategy and skill is not that important when playing poker just for fun with your friends. But, when it comes to serious high-stakes games and huge tournaments, poker strategy becomes vital.

However, there is no such thing as a the right poker strategy. Poker is a diverse game where players have to employ different strategies according to the game type, the stakes, limits, odds of winning the game, position at the table, etc. Therefore, Online Poker10 provides you with a Poker Strategy section which covers various different game situations and provides a thorough analysis including extensive advice from world class poker players.

This part of the website is not only dedicated to beginning poker players who are willing to learn the game, but also for the advanced and experienced ones as learning poker strategy is a continuous and never ending process. So here you go, poker strategy articles and play analysis for you to learn from and develop your game.

Early Tournament Play
The early stage of an online multi-table tournament is the only time that almost all the players have stack sizes large enough to allow them a full range of plays at the table. For the purposes of this article, we will consider the “early” stage of the tourney to be the blind levels prior to the antes kicking in. Let’s examine some strategies that may be used successfully, in order to be in good shape once the acceleration of the blinds and antes commences.

Advanced Poker Strategies for the Aspiring Player
Unlike many other stakes games that can be played online, poker is a game in which players can really grow and develop their skills with the possibility of continuously improving their game. The beauty of online poker is that it really is an inclusive medium allowing those who might otherwise never have tried their hand at the game to get in there and have a go.

Flow
There was a hand a couple of seasons ago on High Stakes Poker where Barry Greenstein committed close to a half-million dollars to a pot against Tom Dwan, when he knew he was going in with much the worst of it, and was an underdog in the hand. After he took down the hand, Greenstein said that he just felt he was going to win the hand, and even though the math was wrong, he instinctively knew it was the right move.

Clearing Bonuses
From time to time, the site or sites that you play on may offer you a bonus, which requires that you play a certain number of raked hands in a given period of time in order to collect the money. The psychology of this is brilliant: After all, who can resist “free” money, especially a gambler? However, it is important to realize just what the site has in mind in making the offer, and make your playing decisions accordingly.

Pre-Flop Play in Online Tournaments
As more and more tournament poker has been seen on television, players have been introduced to a wide variety of pre-flop styles that either were never seen before at the table, or at least were not discussed prior to the advent of the hole card camera. While once it was shocking to see someone like Gus Hansen make a raise under the gun with J-4 offsuit, now it has become so common a move as to be almost clichéd.

Look For The Overlay
One of the unique features of online poker is the “guaranteed” tournament, where the site puts up a specific amount as a prize pool, regardless of whether or not the buy-ins reach that total. These guarantees may take the form of cash, or in the case of many satellite tourneys, a particular number of seats in a future event.

Level Four Thinking
Level Four thinking is the gateway to the most complex and intricate plays at the poker table. This level can best be summed up by the statement “What does he think I think he has?” A player who can consistently act from this level is the most dangerous opponent imaginable in a game, because he or she becomes almost impossible to predict. This player will develop strategies to carry out over an entire cash game session, or over the course of a tournament, to combat whatever you own style is.

Using the “Weak” Continuation Bet
One of the unique features of online tournament play is how quickly you are moved from one table to another during the course of the event. Although you may play with the same group of opponents for a fair amount of time, more frequently you are faced with a rapidly changing lineup of players who have never seen you before.

Level Three Thinking
While the level one thinker considers only the two cards in his/her hand and whether or not it is a “winning” hand, and the level two thinker takes into account the cards his opponent may hold, level three thinking can best be summed up with the concept “What does he (my opponent) think I have?” Understanding this idea, and incorporating it into your play when appropriate, gives you a huge edge over players who are not taking it into account.

Utilizing Negative Inference in Multi-Table Tournament Play
In the game of bridge, a very important concept that is consistently used by top players is called “negative inference.” The idea behind it is that clues about the cards that another player holds can be found in what they choose NOT to do, either during the bidding or the play of the hand. A similar approach can be used in analyzing what an opponent is likely to have based on what he DOESN’T bet during a hand in a no limit holdem tourney. Let us pose an example:

Bankroll Management for Multi-Table Tournaments
It is said that almost all professional poker players go broke many times during their careers. However, there is really no need for this to happen to you, if you decide to treat your tournament career as a full-fledged business, rather than using it as a way to feed a need to gamble.

Level Two Thinking
While a Level One thinker considers nothing beyond the two cards he/she is holding in evaluating whether or not to play a hand, the Level Two thinker moves one step beyond that, trying to work out what his opponent holds as well before taking action. The vast majority of players that you find online fit into this category, and unless you have evidence to the contrary, you should usually assume that your opponent(s) is playing that type of game.

Level One Thinking
In becoming a successful poker player, it is essential to understand the “game within a game,” i.e. the psychological twists and turns that may be present in every hand that is dealt. These mental permutations take place between the players who are in the hand, and are largely dependent on the levels of thinking that each uses to try and analyze the action. The deeper you can go in your analysis, the more you will be able to compete at any stakes level against anyone whom you come across. This article talks about Level One thinking, what it is and what its limitations are.

The Squeeze Play
One of the most exciting moves in poker, not to mention one of the most profitable, is the squeeze play. In a multi-table tournament, this strategy, executed at the proper time, can give a much-needed boost to your chip stack, as well as letting your opponents know that you are a dangerous player capable of making a move at any time.

Don’t Tap The Glass
If you’ve ever owned fish, you know that they will often swim right over to the outside of their aquarium tanks, staying there for long stretches of time with their mouths pressed right up against the barrier that separates them from the rest of the world. However, if you strike the glass wall that they are resting on, they will immediately swim away. It is from this phenomenon that the poker expression “Don’t Tap The Glass” was derived.

Being Aware of the Blind Structure in Online Tournaments
One of the most important aspects of successfully playing in any multi-table tournament is staying ahead of the blinds and antes. The number of strategic options available to you will always be largely dependent on the number of big blinds in your stack at any point. Therefore, it is essential that you be aware of the tournament structure before you begin, so that you can plan out how aggressively you will need to attack right from the beginning.

Staying Off Tilt
“Being on tilt” is the most deadly state that a poker player can be in. Just as with a pinball machine, from where the term is derived, when your nervous system is on tilt, you can’t operate in a useful way. You are broken, and, just as the pinball machine needs to be reset in order to function, so similarly do you.

Razz - Defending Your Bring-In
As anyone who has played Razz can attest, the game is probably the most consistently frustrating poker variant of all. Perfect three-card and even four-card starting hands quickly devolve into full houses and three pair, and other players at your table who have no idea how to play the game hit three miracle cards in a row to run you down.

The biggest mistakes that poker players make
Everyone makes mistakes in poker. It's what you do with them, how you adjust, IF you adjust, that makes the difference between the winning player and the losing player. There are too many mistakes that players make to ever possibly list them in a short article but this article will list the biggest mistakes that are made on a routine basis are and will show you what they are, how to identify them, and at the end, a quick way to figure out the mistakes you are making and correct them.

Raising with marginal hands in early position

Strip Poker Strategy
The most important piece of strategy involved in playing strip poker is organizing the right group of players for the game. If the table is made up of people that a) you wouldn’t want to see naked, or b) you wouldn’t want to have see YOU naked (like your boss, your mother, or an IRS agent), you are not going to have any fun, and you most definitely shouldn’t play. If the game is going to be populated with people who you know will be too uptight to get completely nude, you should also consider a different game, like Twister, to break the ice.